MESOPOTAMIA NEWS TOP OF AGENDA : INTERNATIONAL ANALYSTS ON ERDOGANS ECONOMY

Turkey Hits U.S. With Retaliatory Tariffs

Turkey is increasing tariffs (Hurriyet) on some U.S. products, including duties of up to 140 percent on vehicles, cosmetics, and alcohol, as retaliation for what it has called an “economic war” initiated by the United States.

The move comes after Washington imposed sanctions on several top Turkish officials and doubled tariffs on Turkish steel and aluminum to protest Ankara’s jailing (VOA) of American pastor Andrew Brunson. The Turkish lira, which has lost more than 40 percent of its value (Reuters) against the dollar this year, made a modest comeback (FT) yesterday after the country’s central bank and banking regulator introduced measures to bolster the currency.

ANALYSIS

“The fallout is not a function of the unique personalities and worldviews of the American and Turkish presidents, but rather at a fundamental level is the result of a changing world in which Washington and Ankara no longer share a common threat,” CFR’s Steven A. Cook writes in Foreign Policy.

“[President Erdogan] is actually using Trump’s tariffs and Trump’s words to—as a cover for himself, as an excuse for why the economy is going so bad,” Elmira Bayrasli said in an interview with NPR.

“We are witnessing the gradual but steady demise of a relationship that is already an alliance in name only. Though the Trump administration is right to have confronted Turkey, it chose not only the wrong response, but also the wrong issue,” writes CFR President Richard N. Haass in Project Syndicate.